Floriana

On our way to Italy. Landing first in Rome, we will unpack the suitcases at home and repack the suitcase for Sicily. In Sicily, we booked a two week charter that will allow us to explore the Eolian Islands and the western coast of Sicily. I was ready to fly!

NOT SO FAST!!!

Our flight on Delta was scheduled for 10:55 pm. I had never booked a flight that left so late. I thought it would be a good idea because it gave us all day to do last minute things without feeling rushed. The added bonus would be that we’d leave for the airport at 7:45 and avoid all rush hour traffic…. Perfect!

We checked our luggage…..no line We went through Security with TSA Precheck….no line We went to the bar and watched the vice-presidential debate…. ok and then we made our way to the Gate to wait for the boarding process to begin.

Immediately we were advised that the airplane was in maintenance being reviewed for a malfunction and would be delayed 1 hour.

Being Flori, I shrugged it off but went to the counter to point out that they had the incorrect arrival time on the board… we would get into Rome at 2:49, not 1:49. The counter crew was visibly annoyed at my pointing this out to them.

But then the news got worse….

Claudio decided to take it in stride and started reading a magazine he bought at the terminal

Then the board changed AGAIN! But this time the Captain got on the microphone and advised that the maintenance people weren’t sure they had solved the issue and that they were still working on it. But he told us not to worry because his crew would not ‘Time Out’ until 4:00 a.m. so, if maintenance fixed the issue, this crew would fly. I learned that to ‘Time Out’ for the flight crew means it’s the time their shift ends.

Captain spoke again: “Folks, I’m sorry to say this but the maintenance crew has found another issue and is not sure when they will have it resolved. But don’t worry, my crew and I don’t Time Out until 4:00 a.m.”

So, I called over the Captain and said outload what I (and I’m sure everyone else was thinking…) “Can’t the largest airline in the world just roll out another FUNCTIONING airplane?” He told me not with this fleet. WHATEVER THAT MEANS!!! “But don’t worry, my crew and I don’t Time Out until 4:00 a.m.”

In the end, the airplane was a fixer upper, the Captain and his crew were just as sleep deprived as the passengers….I was asking myself whether I even WANTED to get on this flight!

At 3:15 a.m. we took off….finally!!